Working with nature – and not against it – is a global trend in coastal management. This ethnography of coastal protection by lab member Friederike Gesing follows the increasingly popular approach of “soft” protection to the Aotearoa New Zealand coast. Friederike Gesing analyses a political controversy over hard and soft protection measures, and introduces a growing community of practice involved in projects of working with nature. Dune restoration volunteers, coastal management experts, surfer-scientists, and Maori conservationists are engaged in projects ranging from do-it-yourself erosion control, to the reconstruction of native nature, and soft engineering “in concert with natural processes”. With soft protection, Friederike argues, we can witness a new sociotechnical imaginary in the making.
The book (E-Book or softcover) can be ordered from the publisher here. It is also available as an open access version via the State and University Library Bremen.
